There are some really great finds here at Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. I’m not talking about just nasi lemak, roti canai, sup bihun; though that was all available in abundance, and much much tastier than any versions you’ll get elsewhere.

I observed that all the food are cooked by family members or the original proprietors themselves. No foreign workers in sight.
The variety is large and varied. Everyone is very friendly although they were busy with customers. They took time to answer my queries; some shared recipes and most happily allowed me to take my pictures.

So what did I have?

Stall 1 –You will eventually realize that most stalls don’t have a name but merely a signage of what they sell.
The ladies from this stall churn out an assortment of fried noodles but it is the Peknga Kari Ikan that you should be looking out for.

Pekngais a pancake made from grated fresh coconut, wheat flour, “air nyiur” – fresh coconut juice from middle aged coconuts (as shown below) and very freshly squeezed coconut milk.
This is RM2.00/set and comes with fish curry. Well, not just the curry, but a decent size piece of fish!

The process of making a peknga:
1. The batter

2. Spoon a thick layer on the hot griddle.

3. Cook for almost 10 minutes each side over slow fire so it won’t burn.

4. Then flip over.
The final result is a thick pancake with charred surface but soft but very slightly doughy centre. It’s delicious! 🙂

This is the coconut where the coconut water (air nyiur) was used in the batter.

The same stall sells roti jala too so do pick up a few pieces of the freshly made lacy nets to eat with their tasty curries. The peknga and roti jala is handled by the daughters while the mother busies herself manning the stall.

Stall 2: Apom
This stall’s apom with coconut chutney is superb. While most places serves apom on its own, the apom here is accompanied with fresh coconut chutney and dhall. You can skip the dhal, but do dip your apom generously in the chutney.

It was so good that after we finished the 2 pieces that came in a set for RM2.00, I went back for 2nd round. Unfortunately, it was sold out by then!

*Rows of little pans cooking the apom.

The crisp edges and spongy centre was delightful on its own but the coconut chutney really made a difference.

Like I said, soak up the coconut chutney as much as possible! 🙂

Stall 3:You know something’s good when there’s a queue. Ok, maybe not all the time. After all taste is subjective.
But generally yes, you can’t go wrong following a queue right?

Sri Buana is popular for its soup noodles and though rather unfortunately I won’t be able to show you what we had (some images went missing as my SD card had a problem while I was transferring the images to my Asus Zenbook), you can just take my word for it that it is good. Or judge it yourself the next time you’re in Penang. 🙂

Stall 4: Wahid Roti Canai
Finally. A stall with a name.

This roti canai business is serious business. The men behind the stall are all stationed at their respective areas and none moved from their areas the entire morning.
The one stretching the dough never stops, neither does the fella who flips the roti over the grill.
And the one that packs and serves the roti never halted either. Nor the fella who calculates and receive payment.

I bought one to try.
I mean, how good or different can a roti canai be right? I have had some tasty ones in my life.

But as I teared off a piece my heart soared. Hmm… nice texture. Stretchy but thin.

As usual, a good roti canai is good eaten plain, indulgent with some sugar and amazing when flooded with good curry. This one hits the spot on all 3 accounts.

Stall 5:
This stall was popular with many for their roti jala. Now, there are many repetitions of food here at Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. For roti jala there were about 4 stalls selling the same.
My usual modus operandi for such a dilemma would be to go a few rounds and check out all each stall a few times before deciding on one. My decision is often based on popularity, appearance of the food and serving sizes as well as service.

The roti jala turned out just decent. The lontong was a better bet.

Stall 6:
No thanks to my memory card the image of the stall was lost. But look out for drinks stall(there’s only 1-2) and a small stall beside has a mountain of little packets of rice piled up like a hill. There were nasi lemuni, nasi lemak and nasi kacang (or maybe more, I can’t remember).
It was RM1.00 each for the Nasi Kacang Dhal and Nasi Lemuni. I chose these because it is not as common as the usual fried noodles or nasi lemak packs.
Both has good aroma of coconut milk and are equally delicious. The grains of rice were well cooked, the chilli paste spicy and fresh and frankly it was a steal for the price paidas the nasi kacang had egg while the nasi lemuni has small pieces of chicken.

This Astaka is famous for the serabai (a type of pancake made using rice flour, coconut milk and yeast) but the stall was closed on the day I visited. Anyhow I’ll be featuring serabai soon on another blogpost so stay tuned for the piece on Jawi House on Armenian Street. 🙂

All in all we absolutely adored this place!
Food is so cheap and there’s ample variety from over 20 stalls. There’s definitely something for everyone.
I avoided the rice stalls as we didn’t want to eat nasi melayu or kuih but do keep in mind that all of that are available.

Naturally I’m more excited with my new finds of nasi lemuni, serabai, apom with coconut chutney and the best of them all; the peknga. But it can’t be denied that even the common fare like roti canai, roti jala and bihun soup at Sri Buana are a notch above other venues.
I would really encourage more people to visit Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. Less touristy, more bang for buck and better taste overall! 🙂

And just as we were leaving the foodcourt to the car park opposite it, we saw this lone stall selling apom.
Oh my, I can never resist apom.